The Late Bloomers' Club

Does the cover of a book make you want to read it? I saw this book The Late Bloomers Club by Louise Miller on social media and was instantly drawn to it, even before reading the synopsis.  Reviews of Miller's previous book likened it to the TV series Gilmore Girls. I'd go as far as to say this book also has a Gilmore Girls feel about it.

It tells the story in the first person of Nora Huckleberry who is running her family's diner in the town of Guthrie. She has a sister Kit who flitters in and out of Guthrie. The pair inherit a neighbour's property complete with a dog called Freckles who goes missing immediately after his owner's death. The neighbour was known for her cakes including a Burnt Sugar Cake with Maple Icing. Throughout this book we also find out lots more about Peggy the neighbour.

The sisters are trying to decide whether to sell the inherited property and if so who to. Nora is also focused on finding Freckles as well as managing the diner while Kit is busy making movies.

This is definitely a feel-good story. I love the sense of community promoted in the book and how the story is written in the first person.

A great summer  (I live in New Zealand so summer is fast approaching) read!

Bookworm - A Memoir of Childhood Reading

Who remembers reading Flat Stanley or about Charlie or Matilda or Danny or Lucy or Aslan or Milly Molly Mandy? I do!

I don't think I was a bookworm growing up but I remember reading many of the books mentioned in this memoir Bookworm by Lucy Mangan.

Mangan, a British journalist who is of a similar age to me, was definitely a bookworm and in this lovely book she goes back over many of the books she has read. It covers her earliest memories of reading The Hungry Caterpillar and The Tiger Who Came to Tea, her love of Milly Molly Mandy and reading about all the adventures in Narnia and the many books in between and beyond.

I learnt a lot I didn't know about Enid Blyton's books - books I couldn't get enough of growing up. Some of the information came as a surprise. 

I could relate to Mangan for her lack of interest in Tolkien, eek like me. I've never picked up any of his books and I think I fell asleep about 30 minutes into a showing of one of the movies of the Lord of Rings trilogy at a friend's house. Sorry no offence Peter Jackson. I still think you have done an incredible job with those movies and we will always be grateful for your efforts in putting New Zealand on the map! Each to their own.

I enjoyed her views on the popular Ladybird books and her discovery of Roald Dahl and revisiting another favourite childhood book of mine E. Nesbit's The Railway Children. 

One of the best parts of this book was how much her father encouraged her reading. As a five-year-old Mangan's father would buy her a book each Friday and Lucy would find it waiting for her when she went down for breakfast each Saturday. What an awesome Dad.

A great feature at the end of the book is a list of books Mangan read throughout her childhood.  

If you're in your late 30s to early 50s, loved reading as a child and feeling nostalgic, you will want to get your hands on this book!  

The Book of Ordinary People

Does the cover of a book ever say "read me"? This was one of those books for me. It was actually the title on the spine that caught my attention first and then I pulled the book out of our New Releases section at the public library I work at and just knew I had to read it. So I ended up buying it!

The Book of Ordinary People by Australian author Claire Varley would be a favourite read for me so far for 2018.

I don't like thrillers, fantasy or too much romance but I love books about ordinary people so I knew this book was going to get to me. It did.

The book features several characters. They're all ordinary people trying to make a go of life in Melbourne. There's  a woman trying to make sense of the loss of her mother and trying to write her mother's biography. She can't find anything to write, thinking her mother's existence was too ordinary She heads off to a biography writing course or does she? 

There's a lawyer who just wants a promotion, thinking then the grass will be greener but will it?

There's a young lawyer trying to make a go of her career.

There's a journalist wondering if he's past it.

And then there's an asylum seeker waiting, waiting, waiting and waiting... for refugee status.

The writing in this book is powerful. At the end of each chapter I found myself stopping for a minute and thinking about the characters. I also got a glimpse into life as an asylum seeker. I really had no idea until reading this book and I'm grateful to Varley for opening my eyes just a wee bit.

As for the feathers on the front of the book, you will find out their significance when you read it.

Matilda, Charlie, Danny, Pippi and the Naughtiest Girl - Where Would They Be Now?

A post on a Roald Dahl Facebook fan page got me thinking about where would some of his characters would be today.

The post was celebrating the 30th birthday of the Roald Dahl character Matilda. The illustrator of Dahl's books, Quentin Blake, was asked what he thought Matilda would be doing now as a 30-year-old.  He thought she may be an Astrophysicist, a World Traveller or perhaps even the Chief Executive of the British Library. Blake has illustrated the latest edition of Matilda with images of her as a 30-year-old.

But it got me thinking wouldn't it be awesome if someone actually wrote a book about the 30-year-old Matilda. How would she feel towards her parents now? Would her parents be nicer to her now? Maybe treating her better than they did when she was a child. What about her lovely teacher Miss Honey? What role would she now be playing in Matilda's life? Would Matilda still be burying herself in books?

And what about Danny from my favourite Roald Dahl story Danny, the Champion of the World?

How did growing up in a caravan affect him? Does he now live in a caravan himself or has he made a lot of money and lives in a mansion? Does he still poach pheasants? Is he breaking the law in any other way? What about his amazing father? Is he still around? Maybe he's living in a granny flat in the bottom floor of his son's three-storey mansion.

What about Charlie? How's that chocolate factory getting on? Has Charlie moved with the times or been left bankrupt and had to walk away from the factory? Are people even eating chocolate now or too worried about too much sugar and ensuring they stick to the Keto or the Five/Two diet. Or is it still the incredible place it was for Charlie when he was a child.

What about Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Langstrump, or more affectionately known as Pippi Longstocking? She would be in her 80s now? What would she be like as a senior citizen? Is she still wild, funny and crazy. Does she still live with pets like a horse or a monkey or has she settled for a dog or a cat? And what about that suitcase full of gold? Is she also living in a mansion or has she settled for a new spot at one of those fancy and modern retirement homes?

And then there's Elizabeth Allen or otherwise known as the naughtiest girl? Her creator Enid Blyton  wrote 10 books about her but surely there's another story there. She's obviously left school. Hello.... she would be in her 80s. Maybe she is causing merry havoc in the same retirement home as Pippi Longstocking, leading all the other residents astray. Maybe she is being kept in line by the twins from St Clare's boarding school Isabel and Patricia O'Sullivan.

As for the Famous Five - there have been stories made of them tackling issues of the 21st Century thanks to author Bruno Vincent with books including Five Get on the Property Ladder, Five Get Gran Online, Five Go Gluten Free and Five Give Up The Booze.

If Vincent can bring back Julian, Dick, Anne, George and even Timmy the dog (how is that even possible), maybe there is another author or budding writer reading this who would like to update us on the happenings of Matilda, Danny, Charlie, Pippi and the Naughtiest Girl. Just putting the idea out there.

The 104-Storey Treehouse

If you're looking for colour, fun and so much imagination then you can't go past The 104-Storey Treehouse.

I'm a wee bit late to all the fuss. This is the eighth and latest book in the Treehouse series written by Andy Griffiths and illustrated by Terry Denton. I've not read the other seven... yet.

So the first book is called The 13-Storey Treehouse, the second The 26-Story Treehouse and then every 13 storeys there's a new book. After listening to a radio interview with the Australian pair I went out and bought their latest offering.

It's a long book for a child - 351 pages to be precise. What made me laugh was that 27 of those pages just had the words "Up and Up and Up and Up and Up and Up and Up" on each page accompanied by illustrations of a staircase and cute chatter in speech bubbles from the book's main characters as they went on their never ending climb. 

If you've read some of the other books you will know that Andy and Terry live in a treehouse. It's now 104 storeys high. The treehouse has everything you could imagine including a Two Dollar Shop, a Two Million Dollar Shop, a Deep Thoughts Thinking Room and a Money Making Machine (wouldn't we all like one of those?).

In this book Andy has agonising toothache but has a deadline to meet to finish writing his next book. He needs the Joke Writer 2000 pen to help him write the book and so the pair along with their friend Jill go on an adventure to get the pen. I loved the poem about pens, pencils and writing utensils.

I don't think you need to read the other seven books before reading the 104-Storey Treehouse. I enjoyed the story and was captivated by the illustrations and reading the chatter in the little speech bubbles. There is even a joke on each double page spread to annoy your parents  or others with.

Five stars for this one! Now I'm off to read the other seven books.    

What I'm Learning Five Years On.

Today marks five years since I left my "long-time" job as a journalist at the Rotorua Daily Post - the local newspaper I worked at and it has got me thinking about some of the things I've learnt since leaving.

I thought I'd share a few of those things here -

*  Life is not defined by what you do but by who you are!

*  Life is too short to worry about what people think about you or what you perceive they think of you.

*  Living a slower life can be better.

*  Being grateful for the small things matters like a walk with the dog in the Redwoods, having a latte with a book in your favourite cafe, watching your favourite TV series, going to a movie with a mate or appreciating the flowers your husband has planted in the garden.

*  It can take time to find a new job but stick at it!

*  It's important to grieve for things or people you've lost or couldn't have but it's okay to move on even if it does take a while.

*  It can be fun learning and embracing new things and cultures.

*  You can find your passion again.

*  Kindness matters!

*  A dog is a loyal friend.

And with that I'm off to my favourite cafe to read a book and enjoy a latte before I start work later this afternoon. 

Blogging and Bookstagram

I have another new hobby - taking photos of books. Who knew it could be so much fun and that you could spend hours at a time browsing countless websites or wandering through department stores, craft stores and looking around home for props?

A year ago this month I launched/started Book Blogger NZ. It was only really meant to be a hobby. I love writing and I love books so setting up a blog about books seemed the next step. It is still only a hobby and I only write about books that I've enjoyed. If I don't like a book I stop reading it or I finish it and I don't write about it - simple really. In a world where there is so much negativity I prefer to stay as positive as I can.

I've loved writing blogs about books but another aspect of blogging I've enjoyed is taking photographs of books. I also love seeing the creativeness of the many photos on Instagram/Bookstagram. Some people reading this must think I'm a little crazy. Well Bookstagram is a thing you know. Look up #Bookstagram on Instragram and as at 3pm (New Zealand time) on Monday August 20, 2018 you will see I'm not alone. There are 22,714,700 images posted with that hashtag. And #Bookstagram is just one of the many hashtags where you can see photos of books. The images are STUNNING! and I'm blown away by some of the ideas people have when it comes to taking photos of books.

I'm not one for clutter. My husband loves ornaments. Me not so much..... that is until now. Now that I know I can find some way of using it in a photograph. I've taken to spending way too much time wandering through stores, browsing the internet or looking around our house for props that will accompany a book in an image for my blog and Instagram.   

I've even starting writing a list of all the props I could use in a photo. However. I have learnt a valuable lesson. Wait until you're nearing the end of a book before buying any props. The other week I spent an hour or two looking and then buying some props to go with a book I was reading. I got home and continued reading the book and just got frustrated with it and thought I don't want to finish this book and I don't want to take a photo of it. I now have four rubber ducks and a pair of swimming goggles in my Bookstagram Box/Drawer. Yes I do have a place where I store bookish props.

For all of those out there in Bookstagram world - thanks for the amazing images - please keep taking more!